


Magic Learns

by katayla



Category: Kate Daniels - Ilona Andrews
Genre: Domestic, First Day of School, Gen, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-17
Updated: 2019-12-17
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:40:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21836869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katayla/pseuds/katayla
Summary: Conlan's first day of school.
Relationships: Kate Daniels/Curran Lennart
Comments: 17
Kudos: 73
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	Magic Learns

**Author's Note:**

  * For [partypaprika](https://archiveofourown.org/users/partypaprika/gifts).



"Uh-huh," Conlon said, and giggled. He was on the phone with Julie. She and Erra were still on the road, though they managed to come home for Christmas each year, and call for all big occasions. Such as tonight, the night before Conlan's first day of school. I liked to think Julie was passing on wise big sister advice, but from the slight grin on Curran's face, she was more likely giving him tips on how to deal with . . . well, me.

I'd wanted to send our son to the Pack school. He'd be surrounded by kids he already knew and protected by thousands of shapeshifters and the Keep itself. Curran argued that Conlan needed exposure to the rest of the world.

"That's exactly what I'm afraid of!" I'd said.

Curran shrugged. "The world already knows he exists. We can handle any threats that come our way."

The threats had been slower to come with Roland locked away, but we didn't live in a safe world. And Conlan was a magnet. At five, he mostly managed to cloak his magic, though his rapid shapeshifting hadn't slowed down. As proven now when he handed me the phone and scampered off in lion form.

"He'll be fine," Julie said, before I even said hello.

"It's not too late for homeschooling," I said.

Julie laughed. "If you made me go to school, Conlan has to go, too."

I sighed and watched as Conlan attacked Curran and then switched to human form to hide under the couch. His lion form shape was too big for that trick. Curran leaned down and roared. Conlan giggled and I saw him start to gather his magic.

"Conlan!" I said.

"Mooooom," he said, and let his magic drop. 

Curran reached under the couch, but Conlan scooted out the other end and ran out of the room, now in warrior form. Would he do this at school? Would they know how to handle him?

"Kate?" Julie said.

Right. I was still on the phone. I took a deep breath and let Julie tell me stories of what she and Erra had been up to. At least it was something different to worry about.

+

It was midnight and I was leaning against the kitchen counter, going over the list Conlan's school had sent out one more time. No weapons, no peanuts, a box of crayons, and an update on any known magical capabilities.

An arm snaked around my waist and pulled me from the counter. "Come to bed, baby."

I shook my head. "I'm not ready."

"You were ready months ago," Curran said. His lips brushed against my neck and I let the list fall from my hands.

"We've watched over him so closely," I said. Conlan was always with us or someone we loved and trusted. That would change tomorrow. "Are we sure Jim ran a thorough background check on everyone at the school?"

"Well, I did hear they just hired a mysterious janitor with a murky past . . ."

I froze. I knew he was joking, but schools _did_ hire new employees over the summer. What if we'd missed something?

"Kate!"

It was almost a roar, but I'd lived with Curran for far too long to jump. Instead, I gave him one of my piercing glares. Unfortunately, he'd lived with _me_ too long for that to work. 

He leaned his forehead against mine. "You've done everything you can. We both agreed this was best for Conlan. This school will teach him magic."

" _I_ can teach him magic."

"And you will. But you can't teach him everything."

Nobody could teach someone everything, but I was the best qualified when it came to our particular brand of magic. Unless I could convince Erra to stick around for longer than a few days at a time? Maybe she could tutor him and we could keep him home.

"No," Curran said.

"You don't even know what I'm thinking!"

"Unless it's about the wonderful school we picked out for our son and the wonderful time he's going to have there, I'm sticking with no."

"I just--"

"I know," Curran said, and wrapped me in his arms. I'd spent so much of my life hiding. It was a hard enough habit to break for myself. I'd let myself love and have a family, made friends who had risked their lives for me. But Conlan was a child. Roland was locked away, but he wasn't the only bad guy out there. I couldn't be everywhere, but letting Conlan out of my sight for eight hours a day would be one of the hardest things I'd ever done.

Curran's hands moved down and under my shirt, around the small of my back. They were warm and so familiar. I let myself lean against him, trusting him to take the weight of my body, and he picked me up and carried us to the bedroom.

+

We were woken up at 5AM by our son in warrior form.

"School, school, school!" he was chanting, as he jumped on and off our bed. Well, at least he wasn't affected by my fears.

"Not yet, buddy," Curran said, and made a grab for Conlan.

"School!" Conlan insisted, easily evading Curran's reach.

"I say we shove him out the door," Curran said. "He's old enough to fend for himself."

"Noooo," Conlan said, and ran out of the room.

"Ah, peace," Curran said, and closed his eyes.

"It's like you don't know your son at all," I said, just as Conlan ran back into the room, now in human form and wearing only his backpack.

Curran reached out without opening his eyes and snagged our son with one hand. He lifted him up and deposited him on the bed. Conlan giggled and settled down between us.

"You're the shapeshifter," I said. "You explain to him that you need to wear clothes to school."

Conlan reached into his backpack and pulled out a pair of grey sweatpants and sweatshirt. Of course. I'd maybe done too good a job of teaching him to always be prepared.

"I'm ready!"

+

Three hours later, we left the house. We'd bought Conlan a pony last year. So far, he showed no sign of his father's prejudice against horses. When Julie was home, they'd go on long rides together. Conlan led the way to to his new school. He only needed to be shown a route once to remember it and we'd been by several times for registering, meeting his teachers, and generally checking the fortifications.

The school was a two-story brick building that had survived the shift. If all went well, Conlan would spent the next six years there. It was taking all of my brainpower not to imagine all the very many things that could _not_ go well. 

Conlan and I stabled his pony while Curran waited outside. Together, we walked into the building. I tried to reach for Conlan's hand, but he ran ahead to his classroom and disappeared through the doors. I sighed and Curran swung an arm around my shoulders. "Did you want a non-well adjusted kid?"

"Yes!"

Conlan's teacher, Mrs. Dorgan, greeted us at the door.

"He's a shapeshifter," I said, "and has magic. He's very good at not using magic, but he probably won't stay in human form all day. "

Mrs. Dorgan waited patiently while I rambled on. She knew all of this from the first time we'd met. We'd also filled out an extensive form when we'd decided on the school. Like most post-shift schools, they were well stocked with medmages, empaths, and other useful creatures. No shapeshifters, but we'd decided he had enough of that in his regular life and--I shut down that train of thought down, as Mrs. Dorgan moved to meet the new set of parents.

Conlan had sat down at a table with blocks on it, along with a few other children. They were building a tower and, as it grew taller, Conlan leapt to place blocks on the top. I was pretty sure one of the girls was using magic to reinforce the tower base.

"Towers," I said darkly.

"Yes," Curran said. "Towers today, world domination tomorrow."

The girl who had been holding up the tower let her attention drift and it came tumbling down, delighting our son, who laughed and began building another tower.

I reached for Curran's hand and we stood there for a while, watching our son. He was happy and protected and would have a childhood that wasn't like either of ours.

"Time to go?" Curran asked, after the third toppled tower.

I nodded and we walked over to our son. He was busy gathering up blocks and didn't look up at us.

"Conlan," Curran said. When he didn't look up, Curran repeated his name, now with a hint of the alpha in his voice.

Conlan sighed and turned to face us. 

I wrapped him up in a hug. "Be good and remember--"

Curran cleared his throat and I stopped. I wasn't entirely sure how I had planned to end that sentence anyway. There were so many things to say and I'd done my best to say then in the weeks leading up to this day and in all the years of our son's lives. 

"Remember we love you," I said.

Conlan wiggled out of my arms and scampered to another corner of the room, this one filled with art supplies. I watched him for just a few more seconds before standing up and taking Curran's hand in mine. He kissed the side of my head and, together, we walked out of the classroom.

I couldn't wait to hear all about Conlan's day.


End file.
